A fashion spread from the swedish magazine Husmodern 1931. They claim that the hats of 1931 makes you look like a portrait from 1830. I am not convinced, so it's a good thing that I'm a historian and not a fashion journalist - I can't just ignore historical facts to make good copy.

My dress has been finished about a week and Maja's a couple of days. My sister has made one for her smallest daugther, which you can see here (seriously cute toddler if you follow the link) I will also make a pair of shorts for my eldest daughter Valeria from the last remnant of the fabric. First I'm however going to make a pair of pink bloommers from silk jersey, I bought the sewing silk today. There will be reflections and pictures of this later.

My dress is based on a 1939 dress and Maja's dress is a wrap dress tied at the side, just like Isa's in the link above.

It's really not that cold here in Gothenburg, just below freezing, but the wilds are strong and cold so it's nice with wool: merino tights, wool skirt and wool cardigan. Everything you see in the (not so good) is made by me. The 1940s style still rules.

When Eleonora di Toledo, duchess of Florence, died in 1562 she was buried fully dressed. The clothes in the grave have been examined several times, among others by the prominent textile historian Janet Arnold, who also took pattern from them, which you find in "Patterns of Fashion: the cut and construction of clothes for men and women 1560-1620" (Macmillan 1985). Some images of the actual dress and of one of her drawings you can se here, here and here. Eleonora also wore stockings knitted from crimson silk, which ypu can see above; and it is those that I knit this autumn. The pattern I used is made by Anne DesMoines, after the photos in "A history of Hand Knitting" by Richard Rutt (Interweave press 1987).It can be found here as a pdf.This is a test version. I've used Drops Baby Alpacay/Silk, which is both thicker and more elastic than the original silk yarn, but I wanted to try the pattern before buying the silk. The cuffs are folded down over a garter.If you want to know more about fashion in 16th century Florence I highly recommend the book "Moda a Firenze 1540-1580: Lo Stile di Eleonora di Toledo e la sua influenza", by Roberta Orso-Landini and Bruna Niccoli, published byPolistampa (bilingual Italian/English). There's also a book on Cosimo I's influence on fashion in the same period.

In these ads from the Rydboholm weavery in spring 1930 you can see both the (not so very) new modernism and a first trace of the romantic reto style which would gain prominence in the second half of '30s.

My friend Marthe sent me a link of Soviet fabric prints from the '20s and '30s. Lots of absolutely fantastic modernism there; and history in fabric! And since the 1930s and modernism seems to be the current theme in this blog (and will continue to be so for a while, since I've got nine years of the women's magazine "Husmodern" left to go through) I just had to share the link - and oh, how I want some of those prints.

I've spent a few hours at the library today, browsing through and photographing old issues of the Swedish women's magazine "Husmodern" from 1930. This one I feel is just right for me (in 1930 a woman of 45 was older in this field).

lördag 18 januari 2014

Rickards skjorta, från 50-60-talsmönstret som jag hittade i samlingarna igår är nu klar.Rickard's shirt, made from the '50s-'60s pattern I found in the collection of patterns yesterday is now finished.

Yesterday was laundry day so the ten metres of rocket print fabric was pre-shrunk and I could start sewing. I asked hubby to take down Maja's current bed hangings and copied the measures on the new one. Thre was quite a lot of zig-zagging and hemming to do (machine) but after approximately four hours they were finished. It was only after they were put up (and after this photo was taken) that I rembered that she wanted ties to close them more securely so I sewed two pairs of ties on by hand.Today I started on Rickard's shirt. Thanks to the lucky find of a shirt pattern in the right size it went along quickly. I am currently sewing down the facing in the short sleeves by hand and then I will continue hand sewing the collar, the fold in front and the bottom hem. I won't be able to do all of it tonight, but after this is done the only things that remain is sewing the sleeves to the body, the button holes and the buttons. So tomorrow I can probably start on my dress too.

Man hittar detta på svenska här.In an earlier post I argued that this type of dress, the wrap style house dress, should be seen as an innovation in dress in the 1920s and '30s. Or rather: that it came about as an answer to a problem caused by a change in society, where middle class women had to do all or some of their housework due to a shortage of (female) domestic servants. This was a "problem" that had been widely debated since the late 1800s and many unsuccessful attempts hade been made to convince young women that instead of (usually) better paid factory jobs where your free time was your own to decide what to do woth you should work and live with a family as a maid. Women from the working and farming classes had of course always done their housework in the clothes they usually wore, but this type of dress was (partly) invented to give the middle class something both pretty and practical to wear while doing housework. And which would distingusih them from the work wear and uniforms worn by servants doing the same kind of work. In Swedish magazines they are presented as an American type or coat or apron and it was from the US that the innovation came. The then-not-yet-president Hoover was very active in promoting what was to be called, among other things, "the Hoover apron". Because this type of dress was easy to wash, an exception in an early when most clothes weren't easy washable, it was going to lead to better hygiene in the preparation of food. Hygiene is also something that is stressed in the Swedish usage of this type of dress - in this mail order catalogue from Oscar Ahrén 1941 it is mentioned that nurses are among those who need to wear this coat. it is also called a "protection coat" in Swedish, even the pretty floral ones.

Oscar Ahrén catalogue:

I've sewn lots of house dresses, but usually in a '40s or '50s style, but to get closer to the actual "innovation" I this time decided to choose a late '20s-early '30s model. I thought that it would look really horrible on me, but it turned out pretty good.

I have this far worn it in doing laundry, dusting book shelves and slouching in the couch, among other things.The main inspiration was this dress (c.1930), as you can see from the flounces, the scalloped edge and the bias binding.

I also looked at this one for the construction, since it shows the inside. I made only one bust dart to the side, but later added one that goes up into the armscye, because it fit better that way.

I don't know when swiss embroidery edging was first used, but it was too pretty to stay away from. And I didn't have to hem flounces. Luckily I hade bias tape on a 25 metre roll in exactly the right shade from when a fabric store closed and it was really cheap - you never know when you are going to need such things.

I was just going to start taking a pattern from one of Rickard's shirts when I decided to check in one of my binders if I had a collar pattern I could use, since sport shirts tend to have the kind of collar you see above. And what did I find? This late '50s-early '60s pattern for a shirt, shorts and swimming briefs . I think we won't try the last two, especially not the very last. It's even the right size, except that I will need to widen it a little over the shoulders since my husband has the widest shoulders I've ever measured (from joint to joint).

I have decided that for this challenge I am going to make a late '20s-early '30s wrap over house dress. While there was propaganda for this dress type already during WWI in the US, they didn't have their breakthrough until the '20s and really didn't reach Europe until ca 1930, so I feel justified in calling it an innovation. Because it really is, it was designed for a whole new type of middle class housewife: someone who actually did her house work herself, with none or just a smaller part of it done by servants.
Usually I make my housedresses in a way that accentuates the waist, but with the wound not yet healed and my abdomen still swollen after the surgery I think this earlier typ will be better. The fabric, which I got from Stoff&Stil a couple of months ago also has a very '30s look and colour. It will be a pretty, rather than just utilitarian house dress, so I will probably add a flounce to the collar.

It all started because Stoff&Stil, a Scandinavian chain of fabric shops, had this retro space themed printed cotton on sale. I persuaded my sister to drive me to the shop this Monday and not only did I buy ten metres, but she bought 3,5 metres too. And sent her hubby to buy 2,6 metres more today. But what are we going to do with all this rocket fabric? Well, I am going to make a '50s style dress for me, either a buttoned through house dress or this wrap-over style, that I've made a couple of times before. Then it's going to become a short-sleeved shirt for my husband, bed hangings for Maja (who doesn't want her net hangings with plastic "dew drops" on them anymore, but something opaque) and, if there's enough fabric a wrap dress for Maja too. My sister is going to make dresses for her two little girls and herself plus a curtain. We just have to take a group photo when all this is finished.What about the buttons then? Well, I got the idea that it might be a good thing with rocket shaped buttons and started searching eBay - and found these. The shop is called Punch'n'Julie and they have the most amazing buttons and other fun stuff. The buttons weren't expensive either and the delivery was super fast. But I'm not at all sure that they will be used with this fabric.

As I wrote in yesterday's post I had a wool dress in 1930s' style which had got a moth hole right in front on the tummy. The "Make Do and Mend" challenge gave me the kick in the butt I needed to do somethign woth it, except packing it down for summer and packing it up for winter. I made teh new skirt from a wool twill that I bought from a friend a couple of years ago when she sold out most of her fabric stash. To tie the two pieces of the dress together visually I also made a new collar (as you can se in the post below it had a white cotton collar) from the blue wool and made patch pockets from remnants of the glencheck wool used in the bodice and sleeves. This time I made the skirt shorter, to the, to me, more flattering "little-above-the-knee" length of the 1940s. From the lower part of the original skirt, which didn't have moth holes I made a skirt for Valeria, one of my daughters. I feel very thrifty.

The Challenge: # 1 Make Do and Mend

Fabric: 100% Wool tabby and wool twill

Pattern: Not as such, it started its life as a '70s pattern, but has been heavily re-made to a) fit me and b) to give it more of a 40's style. You can see here another example of how I changed this "1970s does 1940s pattern" into a 40s dress.

Year: ca 1940-44. Typical for the war years with its combining of materials and rather short skirt.

Notions: Four plastic buttons, a zipper for Valeria's (modern) skirt

How historically accurate is it? Wool was a common dress material in the 1940s, unlike now, so the materials are good. It has machined button holes, which wasn't common in home made clothing and the plastic buttons are probably from another type of plastic than the one used then. While the pattern is from the 1970s it has been changed enough to make the pieces look like what you can find in an original 1940s pattern. The sleeves are taken from an original 1940s pattern too. Mixing fabrics like this gives it a very authentic look for the war years (at least in Europe) where every scrap available was used. I have studied many sewing patterns and Swedish women's magazines from the period and I think this would pass without comment or notice. (The magazine on the "old" photo is one of the leading Swedish women's magazines, from 1945)

Hours to complete: Not many, maybe five, including Valeria's skirt.

First worn: For photos I wore it today, but since I'm at home recovering from a hole in my duodenum, surgery and four weeks in hospital it may be a while before I wear it "officially". It will be great for work when I get back though.

Total cost: Nothing now, since everything is from stash, nothing newer than two years old. However, if I try to remember the price of the two fabrics I would end up with c. 150 SEK for fabric, which is about 29 USD, and then 20 SEK for a zipper (for Valeria's skirt) and 16 SEK for the buttons, so in all ca 35 USD. The lining in Valeria's skirt was scraps I can't calculate the value of.

To the right, among the links, you will find a link to something called "The Historical Sew Fortnightly 2014". If I had been more competent there would also be that pretty French 15th century picture you see above, but apparently I'm not there yet.Historical Sew Fortnightly is a project started in 2013 by a woman calling hereself the Dreamstress; you can read about it all here. For various reasons I didn't join last year (mainly that I almost exclusively make '40s inspired clothing for everyday wear these days; or knit), but many of my internet friends did and it made me really inspired. The whole thing is nspiring and when the last date for what was allowed was moved from 1938 to 1945 I couldn't stop myself from joining anymore. I will not only make early 1940s clothing, that would be boring, but I guess that at lot of my projects will be from the late '30s-early '40s. The first challenge, which is due on the 15th of January is "Make Do and Mend" so I have, after more than two years gotten around to do something about the 30s style wool dress above, which got a hole right in front of the skirt when our storage suffered a moth infestation. The wool is too thin to darn and I don't have enough to make a new front, so I have instead cut out a new skirt part from a medium blue thin wool twill. From the whole parts of the cut off skirt pieces I will make a skirt for my daugther Valeria.

When I went to hospital (that is: the 19th of November) this jacke was finished except for button holes and buttons. It's from a nice thick wool and has soutache braid for decoration. Tpday I finally felt "all here" enough to make button holes by hand and after one trial button hole on a scrap of the fabric I made the button hole son the jacket.And what happened? it is too big! So tomorrow I will start ripping up the lining at the bottom and pinning it in all three back seams. Hopefully I can take it in without messing with the shoulder pads.